develoPPP: 25 years of win-win for business and development

More clean water in Ukraine, better crop yields in Malawi and Zambia, more female-managed companies in Ecuador and sustainable supply chains in Thailand: since 1999, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has been promoting entrepreneurial projects that effectively combine economic and development policy goals with its develoPPP program. The program is now celebrating its 25th anniversary.

“I was always the only woman at work. So I decided early on: If I have a company, then women have to work there.” María Fernanda Ávila's company TemTis in Quito trains female artisans. Women entrepreneurs like Ávila do not have it easy in Ecuador. 65 percent of all women there experience violence - at work and at home. This costs the Ecuadorian economy around 1.8 billion US dollars a year. If women cannot participate equally in the economy or even start a business, a lot of innovation — and therefore economic potential — is lost. The Ecuadorian Banco ProCredit, together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, addressed this challenge with a series of training courses for female entrepreneurs as part of the develoPPP program. “During the training, we learned a lot about business management, marketing and social networks,” says Ávila. “We also discussed violence against women and how we can prevent it.”

The local branch of the German ProCredit Bank provides access to financial services for small and medium-sized enterprises. The training series is a win-win for the development-oriented private bank, says Head of Human Resources Carolina Landazuri: “We want to prevent violence against women with our program and promote sustainable businesses at the same time. We train female founders to enhance their business management skills, focusing on areas such as finance, marketing, and sustainability. In doing so, we help them ensure the well-being of their employees, promote a zero-tolerance policy for violence with customers and suppliers, and continue to grow their businesses.” The measures benefit not only ProCredit Bank, but also the entire financial sector in the country over the long term, as preventing violence can successfully reduce payment defaults or refinancing.

The companies ETG and Parrogate have also drawn a positive conclusion from their cooperation with develoPPP. Both companies produce cotton, edible oils, and maize, and collaborate withsmallholder farmers in Zambia and Malawi, among others. However, local cultivation is proving difficult, mainly due to climate change and a lack of knowledge about sustainable cultivation.

“Thanks to the advice and develoPPP funding from DEG Impulse, we can train smallholder farmers on model farms in climate-friendly practices. Together, we are now achieving better yields, increasing climate resilience and boosting the income of around 65,000 farmers,” explains Carole Sorreau, Corporate Director for Institutional Business & Sustainability at ETG Commodities B.V.

In Zambia, designated agroforestry areas are also being established as carbon sinks. These enable significant carbon storage and also offer another income opportunity for smallholder farmers from the proceeds they generate from the sale of carbon credits.

The projects of ProCredit Bank and ETG and Parrogate Ginneries Limited are two of over 2,700 projects that have been implemented with the support of develoPPP in the last 25 years.

Launched by the BMZ in 1999, eligible entrepreneurial projects have since been reliably and successfully supported by two partners who complement each other perfectly: While DEG Impulse contributes financing expertise and entrepreneurial know-how, GIZ offers specialist and regional knowledge in over 120 country offices and a global network to politics, business and civil society. The program has now established two funding instruments: develoPPP Classic for medium-sized and large companies and develoPPP Ventures for start-ups.

The fact that develoPPP has been so successful over such a long period is not only due to the close cooperation between GIZ and DEG Impulse, which is of great value to companies. Rather, the companies, their projects and local partners in the target countries benefit from the fact that the program is flexible in terms of content and profitably combines entrepreneurial goals and development policy potential.

Flexibility is an important factor, as wars, crises and climate change pose major challenges for the world. The priorities of develoPPP are therefore aligned with both the political guidelines of German development cooperation and global developments, making them broadly diversified. Projects are funded in areas such as digitalization, diversity and gender, food and agriculture, sustainable supply chains, environment and climate. Special competitions can be held for particularly urgent topics, for example in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic and currently for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

From left to right:
(1) Ukraine: Boreal Light secures drinking water supply with solar-powered water desalination - supported by DEG Impulse: Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Boreal Light co-founder Ali Al-Hakim visit the facilities in February 2024. (2) India: Ecoland produces organic spices. DEG has been promoting sustainable cultivation in various countries and regions since 2005 - like here in Kerala, India. (3) Ecuador: Banco ProCredit and GIZ train women in sustainable entrepreneurship and violence prevention. (4) The Kenyan AgriTech company Shamba Pride connects smallholder farmers and agricultural traders with the aim of increasing agricultural productivity - supported by DEG Impulse via develoPPP Ventures. (5) Rwanda: The MASS Design Group and GIZ are training skilled workers for the construction industry. (6) East Asia: Olam Agri and GIZ are building a more sustainable (and socially acceptable) value chain in rice cultivation, thereby securing the livelihoods of numerous smallholder farmers. (7) Brazil: Symrise, Natura and GIZ are promoting the sustainable cultivation of cosmetic raw materials in the Amazon rainforest. (8) Thailand: Federal President Steinmeier on a project visit to Thailand, where Ebro Foods, Mars Food and Nutrition, Olam Agri and PepsiCo are engaged in climate-friendly rice production. (9) Zambia: Parrogate and ETG develop a training programme for farmers on the sustainable cultivation of agricultural crops such as oilseeds - supported by DEG Impulse.